"It is, after all, mostly little, common things that make up our lives."
--Elisabeth Elliot

Friday, April 10, 2009

Rotten eggs for Easter…

Dear Easter Bunny, Please leave me a basket on my front porch in the god-awful early hours of the morning, just like you have for the past several years. Oh, you cant? Your helper is no longer around? Oh. Well, then…could we just skip this holiday? No. Oh. Umm, I guess I will just have to make the best of it then. Thanks. Not sure I believe any longer, J…

Tonight we did something new. We dyed Easter eggs. How is that new? Well, it wasn’t just Hubby and the kids and I this year. Hubby’s entire family came over. Okay, not all of them. A sister and her daughter, a nephew and his wife and two boys, another sister and her daughter, dad and his girlfriend.

You should probably know that we don’t usually have family get togethers at our house. The kids birthdays are usually here. I had hosted a Christmas for my whole family once. I threw a large party for some friends one time, too. But other than that, we don’t have many people over. Our house is just not set up for it. Plus, it always puts me a bit on edge to be considered the hostess of the event. I don’t like to be responsible for everyone’s comfort and happiness. I would rather just be a guest.

Things have been different lately, though. Since the house is no longer available for us to have our holiday get togethers in (Dad sold it to one of his sons when he moved in with his girlfriend and it is being remodeled), we have had to find other places to enjoy the traditional gatherings. This year Easter will be held in a mobile home. The guest list will consist of approx. 30 people. Yep. Fun times. Instead of making the sister clean her house twice and because I didn’t feel like going out of my own house, I decided to do the egg dyeing here.

The two sisters brought pizzas for dinner. Hubby came home with some pop and ice for the iced tea. Then Dad walked through the door with “the replacement” (*sigh*). Next came the neighbor kid. Then the nephew with his family. Next thing I know, I have 7 kids and 8 adults hanging out in my kitchen. It was a little overwhelming to say the least.

The saving grace of the evening was Little Aid. He’s probably 3 and has never dyed eggs before. I am not a big fan of the egg dying process but watching that little boy light up with glee every time the white eggs turned colors made my heart leap with joy. It’s a good thing that pictures got taken of the process because I was so entranced in the innocence of this one little child that I forgot to help everyone else. His smile helped me survive an evening that may have otherwise trampled me down.

The point of this post? There isn’t one. I’m just rambling and realizing in the process that the little things (like a child’s smile) can help to erase the badness of one’s day and the overwhelming feelings that come along with “the replacement” setting foot in my house unannounced to take part in our family time.

I wasn’t ready to take part in holidays without our Matriarch and I am sure as hell not ready for someone to step into her shoes at said holiday gatherings.

I lived through tonight. Easter is still a mystery. I’ll let you know how it goes.